A KANGAROO RAILROAD QUIZZ Presented by BOB VAN CLEEF of the North River Railway RULES OF THE GAME • Take the test or not, the answers to these questions should be interesting • Answers may be highly technical or controversial. Sometimes more than one answer will be awarded points. • The presenter will present his side of the answers. • Audience is encouraged to justify their objections and opinions but the presenter always has the final decision • Let’s begin and GOOD LUCK! What, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR), is a train? A train is a LOCOMOTIVE, COUPLED, with OR WITHOUT CARS and DISPLAYING MARKERS You must have all four underlined items to claim 1 point How many Steam Engines are represented in this picture? (1) Point for each of these 10 items and others up to a maximum of (8) points There are at least 15 more than listed here The picture is of a steam locomotive but the question was about steam engines (not the number of locomotives in a class). Remember, an engine is any device that converts energy into useful mechanical motion. Further, a machine can be as simple as an inclined plane, a lever and fulcrum or even a screw. Therefore, this picture represents the following engines 1. Each set of drivers is can be considered a machine 2. Each water injector used to move water from the tender to the boiler 3. The whistle is technically another engine as is the steam generator for the headlight. 4. The power reverse is another engine 5. The screw that delivers coal from the tender to the firebox 6. The pumps for the brakes are machines. The brakes proper are machines too but they do not use steam so they don’t count here. 7. Even the coupler lift pins are a machine to open the couplers. 8. There are more parts that might or might not be considered engines. What single special feature is shown in these drawings of two different modern trucks? 1 point if you answered that these were both steerable (or radial) trucks. That type of truck was developed by EMD in 1993. Give yourself 1 more point if you knew the previous pictures were of the later semi-steerable type. Now, How do they work? Up to (2) more points if you understood these principles (on your honor now). 1/2 point for understanding that railroad wheels are cone-shaped. The centrifugal force of rounding a curve shifts the wheels slightly such that the larger diameter of the outside cone contacts the rail as does the smaller diameter of the inside cone. There would be no friction at all under ideal circumstances, BUT… 1/2 point for knowing that in a conventional truck where the journals are fixed there is always a slight amount of friction because the axle is not exactly square to the rail. Some slippage must occur and is responsible for the constant back and forth sideways motions of a car. 1 point for knowing that the journals in a steering truck (or a semi-steering truck) are allowed to have lateral ( horizontal) movement. Springs or some form of shock absorber usually help control this movement. This graph shows how the distance between journals of a 4-wheel steering truck increases while navigating a curve with only a slight increase of oscillation due to slippage of the wheel tread on the rail. The Industrial Revolution was alive and well in England. Steam now pumped water from the mines and powered its looms for weaving cloth. The only way to carry goods to market though was by horseback, canals and by foot. So Who built the first steam locomotive? Hints: He worked with Thomas Newcomen and was employed by JAMES WATT with their two and three story high monstrosities. William Murdoch was the first to invent a steam powered locomotive in the form of a road vehicle called the Murdoch Flyer in 1784 . 3 points for this answer. Murdoch worked on his road vehicles in his spare time while working for James Watt. Watt discouraged his efforts because he did not want to loose a valuable employee to help build and maintain his steam engines but there was another reason too. HINT: How would you miniaturize this “smaller and compact” version of a Watt steam engine to some sort of moving vehicle? Watt’s engines were all atmospheric engines, that is, the steam pressure was no more than 2 or three psi and depended on condensing steam to drive the pistons. Murdoch’s way of miniaturizing Watt’s huge machines was to use steam pressures in the range of 50 psi. This made the Working model of the Flyer design simpler, faster, lighter intended for the patent office and of course way smaller. 2 points. Watt was appalled with such high pressures fearing they could cause explosions so he persuaded his employee to forget his patents and abandon his reckless projects. Murdoch reluctantly agreed but went on to invent the first practical gas lighting Okay, no tricks now. Who invented the first railroad locomotive? He lived next door to William Murdoch and knew both Thomas Newcomen and JAMES WATT as well. He also built this road-based locomotive shortly after Murdoch’s engine as well. Look carefully at the engine. 1 point for Richard Trevick as the one who invented the first Steam locomotive (Dec 24, 1801). True, the iconic picture of his Pendragon engine shown here had wheels without flanges and ran on a plankway, but it did pull carts of coal over rails (and passengers a bit later) and his later engines had flanged wheels for running on rails. Now, What was the large wheel for? Yes, the flywheel did provide inertia for smooth operation but there was a more important reason. The locomotive had only a single piston which meant that it could not start if the piston was stopped at either end of its stroke. The engineer would have to grab the flywheel and turn it to the point where the valve gear admitted steam to the cylinder to start the engine moving. Add (2) more points if you got this one right. This was common with most small engine of this period until Robert Stevens invented the Rocket. Who invented and ran the first electric locomotive? (yes, he is in this picture) That would be Thomas Edison. He was linked to railroads in one way or another for most of his career. He ran his first test of an electric railway in Menlo Park, NJ, on May 13, 18. The locomotive pulled three cars: a flat freight-car, an open awning-car, and a box-car called the "Pullman." One of the innovations of this railway even illustrated a system of electromagnetic braking. General Electric grew out of Edison’s several enterprises. For you diesel fans, Who was at the throttle of the first MU in public service? Edison may have been at the throttle of the first electric MU (Multiple-Unit) train to depart Lackawanna Terminal in Hoboken in September 1930 (2 points for this) but … Frank J. Sprague, formerly employed by Edison, developed, applied and first tested pneumatic MU control on the South Side Elevated Railroad In 1897. (5 points) Sprague's MU system was adopted for use by diesel-electric locomotives and electric locomotives in the 1920s. Today's modern MU control utilizes both pneumatic elements for brake control, and electric elements for throttle setting, dynamic braking and fault lights. Robert C. Sprague, his son, founded Sprague Electric. He invented the tone control for radio and the paper capacitor which launched the business which included a large range of electrical devices. What prominent politician during the mid 1800’s spent a good portion of his life helping the railroads? • He was a surveyor who helped expand the rails westward. • He passed legislation for land grants to the trans- continental railroad • His rivals said he was a 2-bit surveyor from Sangamon County who had to split rails in his spare time to earn a living 2 points While Abraham Lincoln was probably best known for freeing the slaves he also played a key roll in extending the rails across the country. As a lawyer he took many cases defending the Illinois Central and as president he was a strong advocate of the land grants used to fund the railroads in connecting the East and West coasts of the nation. He also began his career as a surveyor for the the Illinois central. His surveyor’s chain was a 66’ chain of 100 links. Where did this odd length come from? 2 points if you knew It all started when with King Henry VIII of England wanted to sell the confiscated lands of the Church. He needed a reliable way to define the amount of land being sold to perspective buyers. 2 more points if you knew that an acre was based on oxen plowing a field. A farmer could plow a furrow 1/8 mile or 10 CHAINS long before resting. (note that this ‘ furrow’ became known as a ‘furlong’) The width of 4 trips back and forth worked out to be 16.5 feet or one rod. 4 such areas were a width of 66 feet or one CHAIN; 1/8 mile = 660 feet thus an acre was officially defined as a rectangular strip of land that measured 1 x 10 chains or 1/8 mile long x 66 feet wide. 66 feet * 660 feet = 43,560 square feet or 1 acre.